Holy Land, Holy Lance: Religious Ideas in the Chanson d’Antioche

Abstract

Silence, Seigneurs, and hold your peace if you want to hear a glorious song. No jongleur can speak of a higher theme … my song is of the Holy City - may she be praised - where God allowed himself to be tortured and crucified, even suffering the lance and blows and wounds. Jerusalem, such is her name.The opening laisse of the Old French Chanson d’Antioche, which focuses on the Holy Land as the scene of Christ’s Passion, promises to address the theme of this volume very directly. How far is that promise fulfilled? The purpose of the examination which follows is to look at the image of Jerusalem in the Chanson and the attraction of the Holy Land to the poem’s audience: this will entail a consideration of the ideas of pilgrimage and crusade. Aspects of popular religion – visions and miracles, for example – will be identified. It will be seen that the role played by the clergy in promoting, explaining, and especially participating in the expedition is crucial to the text.